Mumbai: Today we are seeing the rise in programmatic advertising and MiQ (www.wearemiq.com) is a programmatic partner for marketers and agencies combining industry knowledge with technology and data analytics to offer better-connected marketing solutions for over 1,100+ clients globally. We are experts in data science, analytics, and programmatic trading, and are always ready to solve challenges quickly and ensure our clients always spend their media investments on the right things in the right places. They’re present in 22 cities across 9 countries, with over 1,000 people. The company has a Center of Excellence in Bengaluru, with a global technology, analytics, and innovation base, where it develops cutting-edge programmatic advertising products for India and the rest of the world.
Siddharth Dhabhade is a luminary of the technology and internet industry with over 21 years of experience across management, business development, digital marketing, key customer relationship management and business advisory roles with global technology giants.
As managing director, Dhabhade is responsible for the growth of MiQ’s programmatic and analytics solutions, relationships with brand and media agencies, revenue growth and P&L management and strengthening the company’s leadership position across India, China and SAARC countries. He is also a part of the global operational board and helps drive the global strategy and operations for MiQ.
Prior to joining MiQ, Dhabhade held a variety of technology, business development and management roles with industry giants such as Google, Microsoft and IBM, with his most recent position leading the Indian business of global retail technology and advertising leader, Criteo. At Google, he scaled the business 11x, and at Criteo he made India region as the fastest-growing region for Criteo worldwide with innovations in mobile/apps solutions.
Indiantelevision .com in conversation with MiQ (India China and SAARC) managing director Siddharth Dabhade on the growth of MiQ from a start-up to a Unicorn, on data privacy, use of AI, MiQ innovation in data science, programmatic talent and much more…….
Edited excerpts
On the journey of MiQ
Our growth story has been extraordinary; we have grown from a few hundred to over 1,000 individuals globally. We’ve had stupendous growth in the UK, US, and Canada markets, and we are expanding in emerging markets including India, China, APAC, and MEA to chart out our next wave of growth. India is a key market for us globally, and we continue to invest in adding more agencies, clients, partners, and talent to our India portfolio.
MiQ has been present in India with our Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bangalore since 2012, and it has been an integral part of our global operations, serving as a hub for technology, data science, analytics, and innovations. We launched the India commercial business during the pandemic in 2020, but over the past couple of years, we have grown nearly 10 times more than the industry average. We’ve always been focused on growing profitably, and today we work with over 300 brands and almost every digital media agency in India.
On the funding front
Our founders, Lee Puri and Gurman Hundal, initially bootstrapped to grow in the UK and Europe but MiQ was first funded by ECI back in 2017, and that was our first foray into private equity. It was beneficial to us on a strategic level. We’re really proud to share that in ECI’s 40-year history, they have made the best ever return with us, making nearly 6.1x return on their initial investment.
Last year, we partnered with private equity firm Bridgepoint to fuel our long-term growth strategy to deliver the next phase of programmatic media solutions, with a focus on continued international expansion and client growth.
On advertising unfolding globally and in India
Data privacy is the foundation on which future-proofed, privacy-centric advertising solutions are being built. Globally, the entire AdTech and Digital marketing ecosystem is gearing up for a cookieless world. This means advertisers and marketers are investing in technology that will help them identify, target, and measure without using third-party cookies. Brands are investing to bolster their first-party data, and enrich it with second- & third-party data to succeed in their marketing and advertising campaigns.
Cookieless measurement is one of the most challenging aspects facing advertisers as we move toward a privacy-forward future, as the AdTech industry is heavily fragmented – consider all of the media channels, formats, ad exchanges, ad servers, demand vs. supply-side platforms, and the different data, measurement, and analytics available within walled gardens versus on the open web.
Virtually all channel marketers utilize today will be impacted by the deprecation of cookies, including measurement data. Household reach, IP-based conversions, footfall, incremental lift, ROAS and CPA all currently rely on cookie-based attribution for measurement of the interlocking key between channels.
Technology companies will embed AI into their products and solutions, which will have a transformative impact on personalization, media planning, unlocking consumer insights, campaign optimization, and measurement. We’ve been using AI, and data science algorithms to programmatically do things differently than our competitors.
On that secret sauce that makes MIQ stand out in terms of technology, data science and programmatic talent
MiQ’s secret sauce is our partner-agnostic, tech-enabled and people-powered approach to programmatic. In India, we have a team of over 400 data scientists, analysts, technologists, and programmatic traders, which gives us a winning edge in doing programmatic differently.
. Custom Analytics Solutions: MiQ offers bespoke data analytics solutions that go beyond traditional media campaign analytics. We leverage our expertise in data analysis to help businesses address major challenges such as reducing breakage and churn, identifying high-converting customers, and solving supply chain issues. This ability to apply analytics to various business aspects sets us apart by providing valuable insights and driving better performance.
. Data Science Expertise: At MiQ, we have a team of skilled data scientists who possess a deep understanding of data analysis, modeling, and statistical techniques. These experts are proficient in extracting meaningful insights from complex data sets, enabling them to provide valuable recommendations before the campaign begins and drive data-driven strategies to achieve campaign goals.
. Programmatic Trading Capabilities: MiQ has a pool of programmatic talent comprising expert traders and professionals well-versed in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. Our programmatic trading team understands the intricacies of media buying and optimization, ensuring efficient and effective campaign execution.
. Partnerships and Collaborations: MiQ has established strong partnerships and collaborations with data providers, technology platforms, and industry experts. Our strategic alliances allow us to access diverse data sources, cutting-edge tools, and specialized knowledge, enhancing our capabilities and enabling us to provide comprehensive solutions to clients.
By combining our custom analytics solutions, advanced technology, data science expertise, programmatic trading capabilities, and valuable partnerships, we offer a unique combination that sets us apart in the realm of technology, data science, and programmatic talent. This comprehensive approach allows us to deliver impactful insights, optimize performance, and drive business outcomes for our clients.
On India today making a name for itself in the global arena for its creative work
With a large talent pool of tech, digital and creative professionals, India has the potential to become a global hub for digital and programmatic advertising akin to IT and technology services. Most global organizations (including MiQ) have their centre of excellence, captive and capability centres in India as it offers them significant advantages in terms of skills, costs and infrastructure. I personally believe that with investments in upskilling, digital infrastructure, new technologies and industry collaboration, India will become a digital advertising hub for the world over the next few years.
On concepts such as connected television, cookie-free and sustainable advertising, data clean rooms evolving in the startup ecosystem
In the advertising ecosystem, challenges and trends catalyze the creation of new solutions and channels. Take the connected TV ecosystem for example, which has evolved into the new fastest-growing advertising channel and has the potential to uproot the dominance of linear TV by bringing digital-like capabilities to TV advertising. MiQ’s breadth of industry-leading programmatic TV solutions enables brands to unlock incremental reach with campaigns that marry first-party linear TV data with over-the-top streaming content, a full range of devices across manufacturers, and contextual and behavioural audience analytics to give brands scale.
With increasing concerns over data privacy and most web browsers phasing out third-party cookies, cookieless solutions are gaining popularity and more data will live inside clean rooms – a platform where advertisers and agencies can perform analysis and data science on any dataset in an aggregated way (meaning, at a group level rather than data that can be linked to specific individuals), and without moving it out of the platform.
MiQ is also bringing the sustainable advertising solution to India, through its partnership with Scope3 and Seen This. This is the first such offering in India.
While there are many point solutions in this space, the programmatic ecosystem is very fragmented and requires a specialist like MiQ which can help brands connect the dots between technology, partnerships and people.
On CTV or digital advertising is the go-to medium for brands today
With a boom in CTV/OTT platforms, FAST channels, Smart TV manufacturers and ISPs jumping into the CTV advertising space, the complexity of this platform is increasing. Advertisers have many options to buy, activate and measure their campaigns but an integrated, data-driven approach is often missing. To make media buying on platforms like CTV or digital advertising more transparent, MiQ employs various approaches and tools. These include:
. Authorized Digiadvertising,, or ads.txt is an IAB Tech Lab initiative that helps ensure that your digital ad inventory is only sold through sellers (such as AdSense) whom you’ve identified as authorized.
. Our campaign manager tool is available to all clients to ensure transparency of inventory
. Third-party brand safety – IAS (pre-bind and post-bid)
. Supply path optimization
. Fraud detection through internal algorithms
On sustainability today as many brands have climbed on the sustainability bandwagon
If the internet was a country, it would be the third largest polluter in the world – after the US and China. MiQ aims to be a game changer in the field of sustainability by offering carbon footprint measurements of brands’ digital campaigns. We recognize the significant environmental impact of online activities, and by combining data partnerships, technology, and programmatic approaches, we can help brands reduce their carbon footprint without compromising performance.
To achieve this, MiQ has set off on a mission to understand how to minimize carbon emissions associated with programmatic advertising. We have developed a tool called the “Green Score” that allows brands and their agencies to assess the environmental impact of their programmatic advertising campaigns. The Green Score provides insights into campaign emissions compared to industry and vertical benchmarks. By analyzing the Green Score, brands can gain a better understanding of their environmental impact and build more sustainable campaigns.
MiQ’s approach involves standardizing measurement and providing benchmarks to help brands improve their sustainability efforts. By measuring the carbon emissions resulting from various actions in programmatic advertising, such as running devices, connecting data, and powering servers, MiQ enables brands to identify areas where emissions can be reduced. By implementing sustainable practices based on the insights provided by the Green Score, brands can effectively reduce their carbon footprint.
The way we use the Green Score Report is simple so that every advertiser can benefit from adding this to their campaigns risk-free, with no impact on performance. We use it to:
. Inform tactical day zero planning (before your campaign goes live);
. Adapt mid-flight media mixes; and
. Dynamically optimize to greener supply using the Green Score as a secondary KPI
